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Project management foundations

The Foundations of
Project Success

Understand project management, where to start, free templates and where to get training.

Project management is helping a group of people turn a big idea into reality, moving from where they are now to where they want to be, in service of a bigger purpose.

How do major bodies define project management?

  • PMI: “Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. It’s the practice of planning, organizing, and executing the tasks needed to turn a brilliant idea into a tangible product, service, or deliverable.” [Source]
  • APM: “Project management is the application of processes, methods, skills, knowledge and experience to achieve specific project objectives according to the project acceptance criteria within agreed parameters. Project management has final deliverables that are constrained to a finite timescale and budget.” [Source]
  • US Government: “The coordinated application of general and specialized knowledge, skills, expertise, and practices to a project to achieve its stated goals and outcomes.” [Source]
  • UK Government: Programme and project management includes the planning, delegating, monitoring and control of all aspects of a programme or project and the management and motivation of those involved to achieve the defined objectives within the defined constraints, such as cost, benefit, schedule, quality, scope and risk. [Source]

What’s the issue with these definitions?

They are all accurate, but they mainly focus on delivery. They describe processes and outputs, but say little about the bigger purpose of projects.

If you follow the works of David Dunning, Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, or Fola Alabi, the point is clear: projects are the vehicle organisations use to deliver strategy. Projects are how big changes get made, and how organisations achieve their wider purpose.

As Prof. Bent Flyvbjerg, project management is clearly a social science, because it deals with human behaviour.

In reality, project management isn’t just about tools and processes, it’s about people working together to make change happen.

How has our definition evolved?

We combined the official definitions from APM, PMI, and the UK and US governments. Then we reshaped it: first to reflect project management as people-centred (a social science), then to show how it connects to strategy and purpose. Finally, we simplified it into one clear, plain-English version

  1. Original (technical synthesis): “Project management is the disciplined application of a broad toolkit, encompassing skills, processes, knowledge, and tools, to guide a temporary team in achieving a goal within a set of predefined constraints.”
  2. Social science adjustment: “Project management is the organised way of bringing people, knowledge, and resources together, aligning stakeholders and teamwork so a group can deliver goals within agreed limits of time, cost, and quality.”
  3. Purpose adjustment: “Project management helps people work together to deliver goals that turn strategy into real outcomes, supporting an organisation to achieve its wider purpose.”
  4. Plain, simple version (social + purpose combined): “Project management is helping a group of people turn a big idea into reality, moving from where they are now to where they want to be, in service of a bigger purpose.

Why does this matter?

The real question organisations should ask themselves is: what do we actually use projects for?

In many organisations, big internal changes don’t get treated as projects at all, they just “wing it.” That’s why strategy stalls, why big goals drift, and why change often fails to land.

If project management is about helping people turn ideas into reality in service of a bigger purpose, then the key question is: are you using project management to deliver your strategy, or just to deliver outputs?

Getting started in project management can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be.

The best place to begin is by combining what you already know with proven steps others have taken, and then adding the “extra edge” that most people overlook.

Here’s a simple 3-step path to build your foundations:

Step 1. Believe in your own experience

Almost everyone has been part of a project or change. That means you already have a starting point.

👉 Take two minutes: jot down 5–10 things you think make a good project manager, based on what you’ve seen.

These are your personal “rules of thumb.” They’re your secret sauce, refine them as you gain experience.

Find Out How

Step 2. Do what others have done

The fastest way to learn is to borrow wisdom from those who’ve gone before you.

  1. Mentors → Find your “Yoda.” It can be as simple as asking someone experienced for coffee, or joining a mentoring scheme (APM, PMI, or local networks).
  2. Training → If you want broad skills, start with APM, PMI, Praxis or IPMA foundation courses. If you’re leading a project right now, pick a process qualification (e.g. PRINCE2). That gives you step-by-step structure you can apply today.
  3. Observe → Watch what experienced PMs actually do. Their hard-won wisdom often comes down to simple heuristics, “Success Factors.” Note them, test them, and add them to your toolkit.
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Step 3. Do what others didn’t realise they should do

This is how you leapfrog.

Draw on expert interviews and research into what really drives project success. Apply these insights, and you’ll not only improve results, your teams will enjoy working on your projects more too.

Explore further reading

An Example

Greg (the author) started with APM foundations, then realised he needed a process qualification (PRINCE2) to guide his live projects. That gave him structure right away, then he circled back to broaden his knowledge.

Your Action:

Sketch your own development plan using these three steps, then continuously develop your skills, returning to these foundations.

Get This Right

Project management has the highest burn-out rate of any profession. The main reason cited?

Those managing projects don’t get the support they need.

Call out your initiative for what it is, get the support you need.

You may have a project and not realise it.

Business as Usual (BAU): keeping the lights on, steady operations, no major change.

Projects: temporary initiatives designed to deliver change, new products, new systems, new ways of working.

Why It Matters

Getting this wrong wastes time, resources, and energy.

👉Treating BAU like a project creates unnecessary overhead.

👉 Missing when something is a project risks failure, confusion, and burnout.

Use the free project checker

In a few minutes, you can get a clear answer.

Answer a few quick questions about your initiative to see if it is business as usual, a simple task, or a project that needs proper management foundations.

Use the free project checker

If you search “best project management books,” you’ll get thousands of options.

Here’s a take, five resources anyone leading a project or big change should know.

PM Fundamentals: PMI & APM

Access these two resources from the big beasts of Project Management, the PMI and APM. Looking to answer the basics? You can’t go far wrong with these two online resources.

Read the PMI Guide Read the APM Overview

The Lazy Project Manager

A classic on how to deliver more by delegating—the art in project management. Understand the basics and learn to manage projects effectively.

Get the book

HBR: 10 Must Reads — Change

Looking to get people on the bus, or changing their behaviours to use the thing your project is producing? Check out this gem. Buy it for the first chapter alone by John Kotter, the godfather of change.

Get the book

How Big Things Get Done

Research-backed insights from studying the world’s biggest projects. This shifts perspective from task tracking to strategy, decision-making, and behavioural science.

Get the book See APEX-4 Alternative

The History of Project Management

“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” — Winston Churchill. Understand the history of Project Management to understand where it’s going.

Get the book See Confluity’s Take

Project Management:
A Brief History

The idea of managing projects goes back thousands of years.

  • Take Imhotep, an Egyptian high priest of the sun god Ra. He oversaw the building of the first pyramids, then captured those processes and baked them into a religious order that ensured continuous improvement and knowledge transfer between generations. This gave us the pyramids. He can be considered the first project manager!
  • Centuries later, the great Masterbuilders of Europe‘s medieval cathedrals managed projects that would span entire lifetimes, refining their methods through long apprenticeships that shared and built hard won experience.
  • Modern project management began in the 1950s, with complex defence projects in America. Here the processes for consistency in delivering on time, cost, and quality was key.
  • Later in the 20th century, groups like the Association for Project Management (APM) and the Project Management Institute (PMI) were formed to create standards for everyone. These charitable organisations, or NGOs, developed bodies of knowledge. At first, the focus was on strict, repeatable processes.
  • While the big frameworks tend to focus on principles and breadth, an industry of free-market organisations seek to answer the question of ‘how’ to do project management.
  • As the world got faster and more complex, a new idea emerged. For example, in 2001 Agile Manifesto introduced a more flexible approach. With a focus on guiding principles, not rigid processes. Today, principles-first thinking is used by both the APM and, since 2021, the PMI as the foundation for their bodies of knowledge.

Why is this important?

We can see over time that the idea of delivery has moved from principles (e.g., Egyptian religion) to a strong process approach (e.g., 1950s modern project management) and back to principles again. This is a recent change adapting to complexity.

Why does this history matter?

It shows us that in less complicated times, rigid process worked. But to handle the complexity we all face today, the profession is rediscovering what worked for the Masterbuilders of old: clear, guiding principles.

But This is Only Half the Story:
The Foundations of Project Success

Focusing on project management foundations is not “wrong.” It’s the right thing to do, but a focus on project management itself is “insufficient.” It obscures what is important: the conditions for Project Success.

Shift to Principle-Based Frameworks

A great example is how principle-based formulas based on expert experience have disrupted the big players.

The Agile Manifesto (2001) is a great example. It shook up project management, moving away from process and towards principles and values. Then, in 2021, the PMI moving from a more process-based to a more principled approach.

There may lie a clue here. In an increasingly complex world, people look for clear principles.

Examples

Here’s an example: we can see many large consultancies partnering with the likes of the APM and PMI.

The last 10 years are littered with these partnerships.

The big consultancies do large-scale interviews of project experts and company directors to distil the key insights.

Some call these Critical Success Factors; others, professional rules of thumb. In human behavioural science, the technical term used is ‘heuristics’.

So what is different about these insights?

They draw on actual experience, the experience of people on the ground, telling them what actually works. Not from a textbook, but from learned experience.

Simplicity as a Cure for Complexity

These are simple rules of thumb for success that you can tap into.

They are simplicity as a cure for complexity.

The focus on Success Factors is the crucial layer that sits above this foundation to enable projects that will succeed. It’s a growing trend.

Final Thought

Think of learning Project Management like learning to be a mechanic, whereas learning to deliver successful projects is like learning how to lead the racing team and win.

Further Reading

Further reading on the history of project management, success definition, and heuristics:

The simplest Way to define success

Project management success is the delivery lens: did the team complete the work on time, on budget, and within scope?

A) Project Management Success

“Did we complete the project on time, on budget, and within scope?”

B) Project Success

“Did the project achieve its overall goals and deliver the impact expected?”

It cost far more and took far, far longer than planned, but it became a world-famous icon loved by millions. It’s a case study in project management failure and project success.

The Sydney Opera House

Both Project Management Success and Project Success are critical.

Get this right, and you can move away from worrying about how the future may pan out and working late nights like a hero.

Move towards greater recognition and getting the support, people, and resources you actually need to be successful.

Project Management Foundations

Explore the core concepts, key players, and essential resources in project management.

Key Players

Learn about the APM, PMI & other key players in the project management landscape.

Learn More

Guides & Tools

Access free project management guides, practical tools, and simple explainers.

Learn More

Training Providers

Discover general project management process training providers for certifications and courses.

Learn More

Confluity Project Model sitemap

Model overview

What are Jobs?

The model is organised into three Jobs:

Job 1: Set the Direction – shape the purpose into options and a preferred way forward.

Job 2: Prove It Works – test assumptions and reduce risk before going big.

Job 3: Make It Happen – deliver at scale and make sure people actually use what you build.

What are Simple Rules?

The model contains simple rules. These are short principles drawn from experience that help you make better decisions. Jobs, tasks, and plays help you put those rules into practice.

What is a Play?

A Play is a method or tool that helps you apply a rule or complete a task. Use the recommended Plays first for simpler projects before exploring others.

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